“Last Pour” is our running series that features interviewee quotes of interest that didn’t make the final cut of her or his main story on Beer Travelist. It is our last call, if you will, on a shared moment in time. Pair these quotes from Stanley Boots, founder of 7 Bridges Brewing Company in Da Nang, Vietnam, with our lead story here.
On Vietnam’s effective Covid-19 response:
“I think Vietnam has done a superb job. They have put the safety and physical well-being of the population over the economic for the country. I think, as a result, this country will be one of the strongest rebound countries because according to official numbers we haven’t lost anybody.
I am impressed by Vietnam’s effort, and also by the resilience of the Vietnamese people themselves. Because family is so important, they dealt very well with this lockdown mentally. They’re at home singing karaoke, and they have been compliant with the regulations.”
On 7 Bridges Brewing Co’s homemade hand sanitizer:
“We know how to kill bugs—that’s what we do in the brewery—so I thought let’s just apply it. It’s basically diluted hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid, a strong oxidizer that explodes pathogens when it hits them, and according to the EPA it’s also effective on Covid-19. Even before people freaked out we were using this on our tables, chairs, and all of our foodware in the taprooms.
Related: In Vietnam, Brewing for a Better Tomorrow at 7 Bridges Brewing Company
Parts of this have been used in the food industry to whiten bread, for instance, so it’s not like it would ever kill you if you ingested it. Maybe if you drank the whole bottle you’d get a really bad stomach ache. Many beer companies spray the inside of bottles with these before they’re flushed and filled. It’s like super-strong vinegar and very, very safe.”
On 7 Bridges Brewing Co’s uncertain future in exporting:
“Of course we want our brand to expand and our beers everywhere, but we’re going to have to weigh what happens after Covid-19. There’s a moral dilemma here—do we want to contribute to climate change by putting our beers on ships and moving them around the world, or is it better for us to do collaborations with people we like in other countries? Those are serious questions we’re considering now.”
On selling craft beer to hotels in Vietnam:
“Hotels are challenging in that they want [your beer] for next to nothing so they can mark it up six times—that’s ridiculous. We’re trying to show them that the margin you make by simply doubling your price will be six times the margin than when you sell a Tiger. Use that calculus instead of the old-fashioned markup.”
On 7 Bridges Brewing Company’s environmental focus:
“We decided is to do it all; we want to do it all at once. I remember my first brewing day, we’d hired a German brewer to join the team and he was teaching me how to scale up my homebrew. We’re working together, and then he starts rinsing the pots with caustic and then acid and it’s going right down the drain. Right away I said no way, man. We can’t do that.”
On craft beer’s cache in Da Nang:
“It’s pretty cool amongst young professionals. They’re getting more and more aware of it, and they are our target customer—young, active Vietnamese who want to change the world.”
On ABV matters:
“We’ve done our hefeweizen, which is one of my favorites to brew, as high as 5.6%, but I found that when I started doing it in the mid 3–4% range it sold very quickly. Many people are now wanting to enjoy more volume with lower alcohol.”
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Lead photo courtesy 7 Bridges Brewing Company, the other copyright Beer Travelist and cannot be reused.
